Former N.C. State coach Norm Sloan dies at 77

DURHAM, N.C. - Norm Sloan&#39;s life and coaching still reverberate with Monte Towe, who played for Sloan on the 1974 North Carolina State basketball team that won the national title.<br> <br> ``There is not a day that goes by that I don&#39;t apply something that I learned from coach Sloan in a positive way to my personal life and my teaching of basketball,&#39;&#39; said Towe, now a coach at New Orleans.<br> <br> Sloan, who also led Florida during some of its best and worst times, died Tuesday at 77.<br> <br> He died of pulmonary fibrosis at Duke Hospital, daughter Leslie Nicholls said. Sloan was living in Raleigh.<br> <br> Sloan&#39;s 627 victories rank him 26th on the career list of Division I coaches. He went 266-127 at N.C. State over 14 seasons.<br> <br> ``Coach Sloan was an icon of N.C. State basketball,&#39;&#39; athletic director Lee Fowler said. ``And so much of our great tradition is a result of his contributions.&#39;&#39;<br> <br> Sloan&#39;s 1974 title team was led by David Thompson, Tom Burleson and Towe.<br> <br> In 1973, Thompson helped the Wolfpack to a 27-0 record, but they weren&#39;t able to play in the NCAA tournament because of probation related to his recruitment.<br> <br> Former North Carolina coach Dean Smith said Sloan ``was always one of the great coaches we competed against. I mean that. His teams played as hard as they could possibly play.&#39;&#39;<br> <br> Sloan was ``a bright man and was a great leader and that showed with his teams,&#39;&#39; Smith said.<br> <br> Sloan left the Wolfpack in 1980 for a second stint at Florida, where he led the Gators on their first true basketball renaissance.<br> <br> He went 150-131 over nine seasons and took Florida to the NCAA tournament three times after the program had gone more than 70 years without ever making it.<br> <br> ``Coach Sloan made some outstanding contributions to the basketball program at Florida,&#39;&#39; Gators athletic director Jeremy Foley said.<br> <br> But the era was marked by scandal. The team&#39;s star, Vernon Maxwell, later admitted to using cocaine before one tournament game and taking cash payments from coaches.<br> <br> That, plus other problems, landed Florida on probation and signaled the end for Sloan, who was fired after the 1988-89 season. His replacement, Don DeVoe, famously labeled himself ``a no-nonsense guy in a nonsense program.&#39;&#39; DeVoe lasted nine months at Florida.<br> <br> Sloan&#39;s first run with the Gators went from 1960-66. He was the first full-time basketball coach at Florida, a school that, until then, looked for its basketball coaches from its roster of assistants from the football staff, or by picking a volunteer from the physical education faculty.<br> <br> ``He basically took it from like an intramural program and built the grass roots,&#39;&#39; Florida historian Norm Carlson said. ``He left. Then he came back, and built it up again.&#39;&#39;<br> <br> Sloan went 85-63 in his first run at Florida, then left for North Carolina State. Including stints at Presbyterian and Citadel, Sloan had a career record of 627-395 over 37 seasons.<br> <br> ``Norm was a pioneer for the development of ACC basketball,&#39;&#39; Atlantic Coast Conference commissioner John Swofford said. ``He played a pivotal role in the history and tradition of this league.&#39;&#39;